Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

NYPD mother of three slammed as ‘scammer’ for wanting off on sabbath: suit
The New York Post ^ | 10/14/2023 | Tina Moore

Posted on 10/14/2023 12:01:48 PM PDT by thegagline

A Brooklyn cop and Seventh Day Adventist was derided as a “scammer” after she requested to be off on Saturdays to worship, according to a lawsuit.

When she signed onto the job in 2016, Johanne Saint-Jean claims she was told she’d be able to adhere to her faith, a Christian sect that observe the sabbath from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.

Instead, she spent the next eight years being chastised by superiors who allegedly told her, “‘You’re not Jewish. Why are you practicing like you’re Jewish?’”

*** A supervisor also said her religion was “not for black people” and she starting being assigned to work Saturdays, she said.

As a result, she was forced to use her own accrued time off for the Sabbath and has lost out on valuable overtime and transfers to specialized units, she claims in the legal filing.

Her problems multiplied in 2020 when Sgt. Robbin Abrams became her new boss, she contends.

He allegedly told her that “no cop wants to work with you because you are a scammer.”

That same year, her bosses decided she was absent without leave on a Saturday and sent Nassau County police officers to her Long Island home “to harass her,” she claims in the litigation, which seeks unspecified damages. ***

She has filed four or five formal complaints, but they only led to more bullying, she said.

*** “I’m asking for a change so nobody else who comes on has to deal with this, especially as a black woman,” she said. “Some days I get to work and I sit in my car and I think, ‘Should I go in? I can’t do it.'”

***

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: government; nypd; religion; worship
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-37 next last
An interesting case. The NYPD grants religious exemptions for having facial hair, wearing turbins and vaccines (after lengthy litigated). The basic test is “reasonable accommodation “. for religious exemptions. Taking off for the Sabbath/Shabbat is probably a bridge too far for law enforcement.

In this particular case, the officer played the race card which immediately calls into question her veracity.

1 posted on 10/14/2023 12:01:48 PM PDT by thegagline
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: thegagline

Do cops work 7 days a week?

It should be fairly easy, especially in NYPD, to arrange her her to either not work friday/ saturday and have either a night shift sat or morn/afternoon shift friday.

That said. Tossing the blak womyn card makes me lean towards suspicion.

But 14 years on the force should indicate a history of taking that time off, so IDK


2 posted on 10/14/2023 12:13:09 PM PDT by SPDSHDW (FR is so far in the can that we make the DU idiots look civil sometimes. Hope you’re proud.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: thegagline

Eight years? Come on man!


3 posted on 10/14/2023 12:14:19 PM PDT by newzjunkey (We need a better Trump than Trump in 2024)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: thegagline
I can’t imagine what kind of religious sect would not allow for work in a job like law enforcement on the Sabbath.

Jesus Himself rebuked the Pharisees over this sort of thing repeatedly in the Gospels.

4 posted on 10/14/2023 12:17:45 PM PDT by Alberta's Child (If something in government doesn’t make sense, you can be sure it makes dollars.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: thegagline

I don’t understand why people apply for 24/7 jobs if they can’t be available 24/7.


5 posted on 10/14/2023 12:30:01 PM PDT by HotKat (Politicians are like diapers; they need to be changed often and for the same reason. Mark Twain)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Alberta's Child

That’s correct, He did.


6 posted on 10/14/2023 12:49:26 PM PDT by No name given (Anonymous is who you’ll know me as)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: thegagline

We did have an employee at my prison that demanded both saturday and sunday off as a religious accommodation. Unfortunately that person was the chaplain. They dropped her like a hot rock.

CC


7 posted on 10/14/2023 1:08:40 PM PDT by Celtic Conservative (My cats are more amusing than 200 channels worth of TV.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Celtic Conservative
How long have you been in prison, and what are you in for?

:-O
:-P

8 posted on 10/14/2023 1:17:00 PM PDT by Alberta's Child (If something in government doesn’t make sense, you can be sure it makes dollars.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: thegagline

I don’t know. The article indicates that she was told that her religion was ‘not for Black people’. That can be interpreted as discrimination against Blacks. It’s like telling a Black Conservative that ‘the Republican party is not for you.’


9 posted on 10/14/2023 1:20:18 PM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: thegagline
When she signed onto the job in 2016, Johanne Saint-Jean claims she was told she’d be able to adhere to her faith, a Christian sect that observe the sabbath from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.

This is the key point. All the other stuff is an aside except maybe if the supervisor really said, "her religion was 'not for black people.'" Sounds like actual racism to me. As someone said up thread, it's like saying "conservatism is not for black people." I loath race baiters and race scammers, but I also hate actual racists.

10 posted on 10/14/2023 2:11:07 PM PDT by piytar (Do NOT forget Ashli Babbit!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jamestown1630

Are there black jews?
Did she have a bat mitzvah?
Aren’t there other jobs that can accommodate her needs?
I’m tired of unhappy employees trying to change the employer’s rules. Rules are rules.


11 posted on 10/14/2023 2:15:13 PM PDT by 1_Rain_Drop ( ~~ TRUMP is right about EVERYTHING ! ~~ )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: 1_Rain_Drop
She had a Black Mitzvah.

But seriously:

https://www.pewresearch.org › short-reads › 2015 › 07 › 27 › the-most-and-least-racially-diverse...

The most and least racially diverse U.S. religious groups

Seventh-day Adventists top the list with a score of 9.1: 37% of adults who identify as Seventh-day Adventists are white, while 32% are black, 15% are Hispanic, 8% are Asian and another 8% are another race or mixed race.

Somebody ought to know this. Jehovah's Witnesses are similar.

12 posted on 10/14/2023 2:27:44 PM PDT by x
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: x

I never met a white jehovahs witness until about 30


13 posted on 10/14/2023 2:30:52 PM PDT by Chickensoup (Genocide is here. Leftist extremists are spehe used tarheading the Genocide against conservatives. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Alberta's Child

I did 25 years, from the right-side of the equation!

CC


14 posted on 10/14/2023 2:31:01 PM PDT by Celtic Conservative (My cats are more amusing than 200 channels worth of TV.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: thegagline

I worked with an SDA and I took his Saturday duties and he took my Sunday duties. Our boss did not understand. I also covered for him on Winter Fridays near 5PM. It’s not that hard to understand


15 posted on 10/14/2023 2:32:34 PM PDT by AppyPappy (Biden told Al Roker "America is back". Unfortunately, he meant back to the 1970's)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Alberta's Child

“I can’t imagine what kind of religious sect would not allow for work in a job like law enforcement on the Sabbath.”

the issue is worship more than work. She can work Saturday nights, but she has to have a day each week to worship and rest (according to God) and her sect says that day is Friday night to Saturday night just as Jews did. If she’s working, she can’t worship and she can only worship Friday night to Saturday afternoon.

“Jesus Himself rebuked the Pharisees over this sort of thing repeatedly in the Gospels.”

No, He didn’t. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for attacking Him and the Apostles for doing extraordinary things (like healing people) or ordinary things (like picking grain from stalks while they walked through fields) when doing the extraordinary (like preaching the Kingdom of God) on the Sabbath. Jesus pointed out that the Pharisees would rescue a prized animal on the Sabbath (i.e. do something extraordinary) so why were they attacking Him and the Apostles for trying to save Israel. Even Jesus would have opposed ordinary work for ordinary times on the Sabbath. What He was doing was extraordinary. The two situations are very different. This cop is doing an ordinary job that has a few extraordinary situations but can easily be done by someone else filling in for her. If she were a Jew no one would question this.

I think SDA is a crackpot, phony 19th century invention, but they have the right to worship like anyone else. Just have this woman work from Saturday night right through Friday afternoon (or Thursday). Problem solved.


16 posted on 10/14/2023 2:34:01 PM PDT by vladimir998 ( Apparently I'm still living in your head rent free. At least now it isn't empty.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: x

sigh.... there are too many religions to stay up to date with all their religiosity. I forgot about the seventh day group.


17 posted on 10/14/2023 2:42:19 PM PDT by 1_Rain_Drop ( ~~ TRUMP is right about EVERYTHING ! ~~ )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: 1_Rain_Drop

“Are there black jews?” Sammy Davis Jr. is the only example I can think of.


18 posted on 10/14/2023 3:41:41 PM PDT by EvilCapitalist (81 votes my ass.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: 1_Rain_Drop

You think Seventh Day Adventists are Jewish? Really?

Oh, meet Nissim Black:

https://www.nissimofficial.com/


19 posted on 10/14/2023 3:49:07 PM PDT by jjotto ( Blessed are You LORD, who crushes enemies and subdues the wicked.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: thegagline
*** A supervisor also said her religion was “not for black people” and she starting being assigned to work Saturdays, she said.

I think the race card was thrusted on to the woman,

20 posted on 10/14/2023 3:49:31 PM PDT by the_daug ( )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-37 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson